The ice guide part 4: Nugget Ice Cubes – fast, flexible ice

All ice is ice, right? Wrong. Here’s the lowdown on NUGGET ICE CUBES from Hubbard, the ice experts.

She may not be the prettiest in the glass, but nugget ice sure is fast! The original “chewable” ice, its versatility, speed and relatively low cost makes it a popular choice for a wide range of applications, from fast food outlets to hotels.

Because it’s made from compacted flake ice, production is super-fast. Nugget’s compact size also works well not just for chilling drinks but for food display and blending, too. While it’s not as attractive as its dice ice cube and supercube siblings, it’s a delight to bite!

Nugget ice machines produce a lot of ice from a compact footprint. Plus, the cubes’ small size means they chill very quickly. Another plus: they’re eco-friendly, because they use less water and energy. In fact, they use up to 50% less water and 15% less energy than standard ice cube machines. No wonder in the USA they market nugget ice machines under the strapline ‘love the nug’.

There are loads of different nugget ice machines available – including stackable units that sit on top of a modular storage bin to produce more ice than you can shake a stick at. There are some pretty innovative machines too, such as the Scotsman Ice Tower. This is an undercounter unit with a chimney chute that dispenses ice pretty much limitlessly. Perfect for bottomless drinks service!

Want to learn more? Check out Hubbard Systems’ Guide to Ice in the downloads area at scotsman-ice.co.uk

Nugget ice is one of eight different ice types produced by Scotsman ice machines, each of which has a distinct application. They are gourmet ice cubes, aka supercubes, dice ice cubes, superdice ice cubes, flake ice, superflake ice, cubelet ice, nugget ice, and scale ice. Find out more in the Guide to Ice.